Poll: Trump holding on to lead in Missouri

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Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a rally the Peabody Opera House on March 11, 2016 in St. Louis, Missouri.

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Missouri is a lightly polled state that has voted Republican in recent presidential elections

Donald Trump appears to be holding on to his lead, after being tied earlier this year

(CNN)Donald Trump is leading in Missouri, despite finding himself at the center of a controversy that has upended the presidential race in other states, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

The latest survey from Monmouth University provides a snapshot of a lightly polled state that has voted Republican in the last four presidential elections.

Monmouth found Trump garnering the support of 46% of likely Missouri voters, while Hillary Clinton trailed with 41%. Five percent of the state's voters said they intend to back Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson, while just 2% gave the nod to Green Party nominee Jill Stein.

About one-third of the poll's interviews were conducted prior to Sunday night's debate between Trump and Clinton, which was held in St. Louis. But the poll was conducted entirely after the release of last week's bombshell recording in which Trump can be heard making a lewd comment about groping women.

Fifty-one percent of Missouri voters said that Trump's comments in the tape were "inappropriate" but do not necessarily make him unfit for office, according to the poll, while 35% said they do make him unfit.

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Monmouth's previous poll of Missouri in August showed Trump and Clinton locked in a virtual tie.

The latest Monmouth poll was conducted October 9-11 using phone interviews with 406 likely Missouri voters. It has a margin of error of 4.9%.